[Am-info] Dell and Linux

[Roy Bixler]

On Tuesday 07 May 2002 09:04, Geoffrey wrote:
> I keep hearing all this waffling on Dell's part as far as Linux support.
>   I just happened to scoot by their site.  Selected support->downloads.
>   There's a dropdown where you select your OS.  Linux being the first in
> the list.... ???

True, but it still doesn't appear possible to order Linux pre-installed on 
one of their desktop systems.  There, "you can pick any color you want as 
long as it's black."  Things are a little better on servers with "Red Hat 
Linux 7.2" being the cheapest available pre-installed operating system apart 
from the "no preinstalled OS" option.  Still, I noticed that "Windows 2000" 
is highlighted in the list as "recommended."

I consider the most interesting recent development in this area to be that, 
Walmart gives the option of selling a PC without a pre-installed OS.  Also, 
as this article at Newforge 
("http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=02/05/02/1514240&mode=thread&tid=7") 
shows, Walmart does have Linux users in mind.  Dell claims that they don't  
preinstall Linux or other operating systems because "there is no customer 
demand."  I wonder what they think of shipping a PC without an OS and being 
able to knock a nice percentage off the price.  If Walmart's initiative is 
successful, Dell will have to respond somehow.

R.